The present invention concerns an electronic module, notably an electronic module comprising electronic components and cooling elements for these electronic components. The present invention concerns more particularly, but not exclusively, an electronic module for high frequency data acquisition comprising several channels, whereas each channel includes a high frequency analog-to-digital converter as well as cooling elements for these converters.
Many types of data acquisition systems are known, for example transitory recorders and digital oscilloscopes, in which it is necessary to convert one or several analog signals into one or several digital signals capable of being stored in a digital memory and processed by a digital processor. During the past few years, modular acquisition systems have appeared, generally comprising a frame in which various acquisition modules can be inserted in parallel in slots. Each module comprises connection means for inserting and removably connecting it in the system, as well as generally one or several acquisition channels capable of digitizing the input signals observed. For example, acquisition modules conform to the PCI, CompactPCI, VXI or PXI standards are known that define the mechanical and electrical characteristics of the intermodular connection means. The present invention applies in particular to this type of module.
FIG. 1 illustrates diagrammatically a prior art acquisition module. Various components 2, 3, 5 are assembled on a printed circuit board 15. The module 1 is designed to be inserted into adapted slots of a mother board (not represented), by means of connectors (not represented) on the lower or rear side of the board. The module is provided with a front panel 12 fitted with a prehensile organ 11 as well as with a number of connectors, for example BNC connectors, corresponding to the module""s number of channels. An input signal can be supplied to each channel by means of these connectors.
Each channel generally includes an input amplifier 2, an analog-to-digital converter 3 as well as a circuit 5 for processing and storing the supplied non-itemized digital signal. The signal thus processed is then supplied to a microprocessor (not represented) capable of receiving and processing the signals supplied by different channels and on different modules.
The analog-to-digital converters 3 must by virtue of the Nyquist principle work at a sampling frequency that is double the frequency of the signal to be sampled in order to supply a correct digital representation of the signal. In the case of very high frequency signals, for example signals having a frequency of several hundred MHz, the converters 3 thus also work at very high speed and thus produce a considerable thermal energy that must be evacuated.
In the prior art, the heat produced by each analog-to-digital converter is generally evacuated by means of a radiator glued or fastened on the upper side of the converter. Cold air 13 is furthermore sometimes insufflated vertically onto the radiators.
The converters 3 are components that occupy a relatively large surface on the module""s board 15, so that the arrangement indicated in FIG. 1 is generally adopted, i.e. the converters are placed side-by-side and over one-another. However, with this arrangement, the air temperature close to the upper converters is higher than the air temperature close to the lower converters (in the case where the air is insufflated from the bottom). Tests have shown that the temperature difference from one converter to another can be as much as 10xc2x0 approximately. In a module comprising four high frequency converters, there can thus be a difference of more than thirty degrees between the temperature of the insufflated air 13 and the temperature of the exiting hot air 14.
The upper analog-to-digital converter thus works in less favorable conditions than the lower converter, which is cooled better. The upper converters thus age much faster and the different working conditions make difficult for example an equalizing of the supplied digital signals.
An aim of the present invention is therefore to remedy these different problems and to supply an electronic module that is improved over the prior art modules.
According to the invention these aims are achieved by means of a module having the characteristics of claim 1, preferred embodiments being further indicated in the dependent claims.
In particular, these aims are achieved by placing a removable protective cover over the module""s PCB board, preferably covering all or a substantial part of the board, and that can also be used as a radiator to evacuate the heat produced by the electronic components. The cover can be manufactured from a simple flat or profiled sheet, cut and possibly folded over. A thermal bridge is established between the cover and the components to be cooled. The thermal bridge includes at least one element connected to the cover, preferably a compressible element capable of adapting to the thickness of the components, for example a piston pressed by a spring against the components to be cooled. The piston is preferably mounted on a piston carrier connected to the cover; preferably, several pistons pressed against different components on the same board are mounted in a same piston carrier, thus allowing the temperature of the various components, for example of different analog-to-digital converters in an acquisition system, to be made uniform.
The cover, the piston carrier and the pistons are preferably made of materials having a very low heat resistance. The contact surface between the pistons and the piston carrier is preferably maximized so as to encourage heat exchanges between the pistons and the piston carrier; for this purpose, the pistons will for example have at least a conical profile portion.
Although the invention applies particularly well to the cooling of analog-to-digital converters in a high-frequency acquisition system, the one skilled in the art will understand that the invention can also be applied to the cooling of any type of components producing considerable heat in any type of electronic module, for example also to the cooling of microprocessors or signal processors.
The term module includes in the present application and in the claims any kind of electronic module, in particular any type of module capable of being inserted in a slot of a motherboard of an electronic processing system.
It is known from the prior art how to use a cover over electronic components as a radiator. Solutions of this kind have been described in patent documents U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,235,283, 5,177,667, 5,228,502, 5,394,229, EP-B1-0,079,424, EP-B1-0,097,157, EP-B1-0,111,709, EP-B1-0,369,115, EP-B1-0,552,787 or EP-A1-673,064 for example. None of these solutions is however adapted to the cooling by air circulation of a module of large size (approximately 300 cm2 in a preferred embodiment of the invention), constituted of a printed circuit board designed for being removably inserted in the slots of a data acquisition system. Furthermore, these solutions often use covers of a complex shape that cannot be manufactured simply from a simple flat or profiled sheet. Finally, in most of these documents, the electronic components are partitioned by the cover, i.e. each element finds itself in a compartment defined by the shape of the cover. It is thus generally not possible to insufflate air between the cover and the board to cool the components; when a gap sometimes exists between the cover and the board, this gap usually does not allow air to be insufflated on the entire height of the electronic components, so that this air can cool only the base of the electronic components but not the upper part in which the semi-conductor element is usually placed. Furthermore, each component being lodged in a partitioned space with little air circulation between the components, it is difficult to make uniform the temperature of electronic components, for example of analog-to-digital converters which must operate at temperatures as close as possible.
Furthermore, these solutions are generally only adapted to chips mounted in flip-chip fashion; the solutions offered cannot however be transposed to the case of usual components, for example Ball Grid Arrays (BGA), mounted on a standard printed board.